Eagles overcome adversity to claim state tourney berth

It’s been a battle just to advance out of the area tournament for Oak Mountain the past three years, much less the super regional or state tournament.

Make that each of the past four years now, as the Eagles had to play their best to advance past Spain Park and be one of the top two teams out of Class 7A, Area 6.

“We’ve been working since our freshman year just to get out of area, and just making it out of area was icing on the cake,” said senior Mollie Grace Wade.

Well, it’s time to add a cherry on top, as Oak Mountain went toe-to-toe with one of the top teams in the state on Thursday afternoon at the Class 7A Super Regional, knocking off Bob Jones in a scintillating five-setter, 25-18, 25-27, 23-25, 27-25, 15-11.

With the win, the Eagles have advanced to the state tournament – held next week at the Birmingham CrossPlex – for the first time since 2012. The current seniors were eighth-graders.

“I can’t describe it. It’s really indescribable,” said Jacoby Sims, one of the team’s hitters.

The Eagles experienced both ends of the spectrum during the match. After winning the first set comfortably, they held a set point in the second before yielding the final three points to the favored Patriots.

The third set was also tight, but Bob Jones prevailed. Bob Jones opened up a lead in the fourth set, but the Eagles clawed back into it.

The pivotal point in the match came as Bob Jones had a match point in the fourth set, but was called for reaching over the net. From that point, Oak Mountain took the match and ran away with it, rallying to win the fourth and dominating the fifth and final set.

“It was so hard, but we had the intensity and the energy through the whole (fourth) set to fight it off,” Makenzie Warren said. “We played for each other and that’s why we won.”

Torie Denkers is a powerful force on the outside and proved that once again on Thursday, finishing the match with a devastating 25 kills. Sims was not far behind, with 22 kills of her own.

Kathryn Beard and Ashley Treace did a great job setting up those kills, with 26 and 25 assists, respectively. Beard finished with seven digs, while Keller Lovvorn had six and Warren four.

Kaitlyn Lund led the team with five blocks, followed by Kendall Scharbert with four. Scharbert also had 10 kills.

Oak Mountain now faces Huntsville at 3:30 p.m. on Friday to determine seeding for the state tournament. Depending on the result, it will either play in the finals or the consolation match at 8 p.m.